Materials of an International Seminar
Civil society and social development

INTRODUCTION

Pavel Zolotoryov , president of the Russian Foundation for Support of
the Military Reform

Someone could characterise the alliance of the Grenoble School of Peace
and the Russian Foundation for Military Reform as absurd. On the face of it
our aims are completely different. But that is only on the face of it.
In reality, the problem of civil society is closely linked to the military
sphere. For instance, a key point in the military reform that has not been
realised so far by our military-political leadership is civil-to-military
relations. These include relationships between the army and the state, the
army and society, those inside the army between the citizens of a society.
It is in civil society that relations between the army and the people, or
those inside the armed forces, can be observed and influence of public organisations
on the military can be identified. Among our guests we have representatives
of the Committee of Soldiers' Mothers, an organisation that is not welcome
at the Defence Ministry, although a very useful one. I suppose they will share
their experience with us as the seminar unfolds.
Building civil society is a new task in Russia, compared with the West, where
this process dates back to the ancient times. There are many reasons for it,
but the main one is closely linked to religion. The western branch of Christianity
stimulated inner controversy in society, which contributed to democratic development.
The Catholic Church has always balanced the state. In Russia, evolution went
along a different path. The Orthodox Church was a traditional ally of the
state, thus, hampering the development of civil society in this country. It
was traditional to place state interests above personal ones in Russia. The
Communists, in their turn, consolidated this relationship, bringing it to
perfection. It is not for nothing that many clergymen were KGB school graduates.
Thus, civil society in Russia is infant. Moreover, conditions of its birth
are far from ideal. We are facing the necessity to strengthen the state, fine-tune
state control of new democratic society. Although objective, it subjectively
affects the conditions of civil society formation. The Concept of National
Security says nothing about civil society. At the same time, there is a law
in Russia that envisages state functions as regards facilitating the development
of civil society. I doubt whether any other country can boast such a law,
although they have already established civil society. The law in question
is the law "On Russian Federation Security".
It reads as follows, "Citizens, public and other organisations and associations
are subject for security, have rights and fulfil duties pertaining to their
participation in ensuring security in line with the laws of the Russian Federation,
laws of the republics - component parts of the Russian Federation, local regulations
of the territories, regions, autonomous regions, and autonomous districts,
adopted within their authority. The state provides legal and social protection
for citizens, public and other organisations that render assistance in ensuring
security in accordance with the law."
It is worth mentioning that the law defines a new treatment of security. According
to the law, security is protection of vital interests of a person, society,
and the state from internal and external threats.
We have the necessary law. But we lack civil society. At the same time, globalisation
triggers creation of civil society institutions on the supranational level.
Globalisation takes its toll. It is common knowledge that one cannot avoid
it. The world is getting transformed into a single system, in which different
phenomena influence the whole system in real time, irrespective of geographical
factors.
Advanced technologies facilitate formation of transnational corporations and
push their activities onto a new level. Globalisation diminishes the role
of the state, while the interests of transnational corporations often run
counter to those of a single nation or even the whole international community.
It is all the more so, considering criminal nature of some of such corporations.
Their presence is most vivid in armed conflict areas. On the one hand, transnational
criminal groups pursue their own purposes there, while on the other hand,
they do their best to protract them, thus internationalising them. We have
seen this in Kosovo and Chechnya. It is worth mentioning that not everybody
realises connection between an internal armed conflict, transnational criminal
groups, and international terrorism that in essence is a military stick in
the hands of criminal groups. That is why we often see that our actions in
Chechnya are misinterpreted.
Ultimately, the formation of civil society on the supranational level should
provide balance of interests between states and transnational organisations
and damp negative consequences of globalisation.
Opening our discussion, I would like to point out that we see three directions
of such evolution. Firstly, processes in the industrial western countries.
Secondly, building civil society in Russia. Thirdly, the creation of global
civil society. The main presentations cover all three directions.

I would like to greet and thank all of you for your coming here for this
clear and sunny weekend. I hope the weekend will be useful as well, as far
as the results of the conference are concerned.
We are about to talk of the society we have been dreaming of. The topic is
closely connected with a research study devoted to the conversion in the defence
industry. We have been carrying out the research within the framework of the
Union for Joint and Responsible World. The Union is a fellowship of citizens
from various countries that is trying to meet the challenges we faced in the
past century and those we will face in the future. Such challenges could include
discrimination between the rich and the poor, men and women, children and
adults, human beings and the nature.
Our research has arrived at an obvious conclusion: to live in peace or to
be at war depends not only on someone's war craft or military and industrial
power that backs it. The history teaches us that civil society, together with
state bodies, plays an ever-growing role of an organiser. In the context of
major change that embraces all continents, ours in particular, we would like
to summarize our study in combination with the activity pursued by the Russian
Foundation in Support of the Military Reform. The contribution of civil society
to the development of humankind on the basis of pluralism cannot but concern
each of us. This has just been clearly pointed out by Mr. Zolotaryov. I am
glad we have so many participants here that represent different nations and,
I believe, different viewpoints, which is yet another example of contemporary
trends, for diversity of opinions is our treasure.
Naturally, we should take into consideration time constraints. I mean we should
be disciplined, not militarily but citizenly, so that everybody could express
his or her opinion. Thank you.